Author: John Paulsen (Page 746 of 937)

Don’t look now, but the Greg Oden-less Portland Trailblazers are one of the hottest teams in the NBA. Though their 13-game winning streak ended last night against the Jazz, the streak contained several nice wins: Utah (twice), Golden State, Toronto, New Orleans and Denver.

Brandon Roy is playing at an All-Star level, averaging 19.2 points, 5.6 assists and 4.6 rebounds per game. LaMarcus Aldridge is chipping in with 17.5 points and 7.4 rebounds. After that, the team has six players averaging 7.3 points per game or more, so the Blazers are winning utilizing a team concept.

If Oden is as good as advertised, the Blazers are going to be very good for a very long time.

The Jazz sent Gordan Giricek and a protected first round pick to Philly for Kyle Korver. Utah is in need of good outside shooting and Korver should be able to fill that role. He can play shooting guard or small forward, and will likely back up Ronnie Brewer and Andrei Kirilenko at those positions.

The Sixers are rebuilding and the trade rids them of Korver’s contract, which runs three more years at $15.5 million. It looks like the Jazz got the better end of the deal unless Philly is able to turn the first round pick (which is bound to be late in the round) into a starter-caliber player.

With the Chicago Bulls struggling to a 9-16 start, GM John Paxon fired head coach Scott Skiles today.

“This was a difficult decision to make, but one that was necessary at this time,” Bulls general manager John Paxson said in a release. “Scott helped us in many ways during his time with the Bulls; most importantly, he helped this franchise get back to respectability. I am appreciative of his hard work and the imprint that he left on our team.”

Chicago is in a familiar spot with this season’s slow start.

The Bulls dropped their first nine in 2004-05 and were 4-15 before going on a surge that led to 47 wins and their first playoff appearance since the Michael Jordan era. They needed a late surge the next season to make it to the playoffs, winning 12 of their final 14 regular-season games to finish with 41 wins.

I’m a little surprised about this move considering the team’s history of slow starts and Skiles’ general reputation around the league. It seems like Paxon’s moves (and non-moves) have affected the team more than Skiles’ coaching. The team has not gotten what it needs from Ben Wallace and the whole Kobe situation has been one giant distraction. Of course, Skiles is partly responsible for Wallace and how his team handles all of the Kobe talk.

For a while there, it looked like the Bulls were a team on the rise, but it’s not clear what direction they are heading now.